KAJA

A young man finds himself stranded on foreign soil, where he encounters friendly townspeople and a hostile wizard, in this Neolithic-set debut novel.

After miraculously surviving a shipwreck, 17-year-old Kaja washes ashore on an apparently uninhabited island. He forages for food and later is surprised to see a young boy. This boy spots Kaja as well and sprints to his town, Ash, to tell folks what he’s seen. Though he describes Kaja as a “wild man” with matted, filthy hair—and dressed in rags—the boy’s friends Regis and Dogen discover a sickly figure who’s barely alive. They take him to Regis’ herbalist mother, Hypp, who nurses Kaja back to health. People in Ash and the neighboring settlements quickly accept the teen, despite his differences—they’re all White while Kaja’s skin is darker and adorned in tattoos. Kaja ultimately relays his story to the townsfolk (and readers): In his native land, men calling themselves Thurgans had enslaved him and his people, the Rishi. He and others escaped in a ship, but it seems only Kaja survived the ensuing wreck. Sadly, not everyone in Ash is amiable; the openly antagonistic wizard Sekh is convinced Kaja is a wizard, too, harboring “secret knowledge.” The villain plans on tormenting Kaja, including furtively drugging him, until the teen reveals his secret, which Sekh believes to be some form of magic. Even as Kaja insists he has no secret, the teen will have to complete a “mission” for Sekh if he wants the wizard to leave him in peace.

While offering an abundance of characters, Lombardo maintains a relatively simple plot. Language, for example, is rarely specified, and the dialogue appears in English like the narrative. At the same time, there’s a discernible, well-incorporated theme of discrimination, especially racial. Not only has Kaja fled slavery by the Thurgans, who are White, but some on the island deem him a “freak” or explicitly reference his cultural tattoos by calling him a “tattooed freak.” The protagonist is an appealing teen entirely out of his element; he makes musical instruments, and, as the Rishi have only tools, he’s shocked by the myriad weapons the townspeople sport. Among the extensive cast, Hypp shines brightest; she’s essentially Kaja’s surrogate mother. The compassionate woman soon considers him a son. The author’s prose is primarily unadorned but concise, with few notable instances of contemporary words or expressions. Narrative descriptions are eloquent, even when Kaja feels the effects of a hallucinogenic: “The mushroom was the perfect conduit, most perfectly enjoyed in solitude where the endless distractions and demands of society and other people were irrelevant. All that mattered to him on the trail, slowly advancing to nowhere, was the sight of a flower, or a dragonfly, or the light in the air.” Kaja’s story continues to intrigue into the final act, as he, with help from friends, tries evading Sekh’s frightening obsession. Similarly, there’s the fact that Kaja indeed has a secret, an unforgettable one that he doesn’t fully explain until much later in the book.

Thoroughly engrossing historical fiction with dynamic characterizations.